Here’s what Africa has to say about what it’s like to run for almost 30 hours straight, racing through the night, and really appreciating Coke and potato chips.

RW: What’s it like to run for 30 hours straight?

DA: It’s a journey. It’s hard. I oftentimes say it’s a lot like life. You have the ups and downs, the peaks and the valleys, and you move through them. There’s good and bad.

Can you talk about a valley…a low point that you had to work through during the race?

There wasn’t anything horrible. I think the section from mile 70-something to mile 92…my lower points were there. It was dark, and it was more this sort of grumpiness where I was like, ‘I’m kind of over this.’ And foreseeing that, ‘Oh my gosh, I know what I have left in the last 15 miles. And it doesn’t let up.’ I got kind of sucked into that. That was a low point.

I had to manage a little bit of stomach/nausea problems, but nothing major. There were moments on the downhill where all the stuff was sloshing in my belly. I had to slow down, back off, take deep breaths.

Did you get sleepy?

I try to just stay on top of eating and drinking, which helps. Drinking Coke, and eating potato chips is what I was loving out there. That’s not something I’d eat at home, but the salt and caffeine helped a lot. And I was eating Roctane GUs, which also helped me stay awake.

Staying on top of nutrition helps me not get sleepy. At night on that course, it gets cold. I think staying on top of your pace helps, too. When you slow down you get cold, and tired and sleepy.

What’s the terrain like at Hardrock?

You’re either going straight up a mountain, or you’re coming down a mountain, basically. There are some sections that are not as steep, not as technical. But there’s 11 passes over 13,000 feet with one 14er in there. It doesn’t really let up. There’s very little flat.

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Sometimes it’s smoother trail, or a dirt road. And some of the passes are a lot more technical than others. Grant-Swamp Pass is really technical coming down. It’s a chossy talus field, really steep and slippery. Then Virginia’s Pass is well-known for being steep and technical. Handie’s Peak isn’t incredibly technical, but it’s loose scree, where you slip down.

Is it hard to keep yourself from tripping when you’re that tired, when it’s late in the race?

The terrain that is hardest for me on this course is when you’ve got the really loose scree. On a couple of passes, I slid down on my butt. I consider myself pretty competent on technical trails, but it’s so steep.

It’s a real mountaineers course. Almost 99 percent of the climbs, you’re hiking. It’s more efficient to hike than to run.

Is any of it downright scary?

Up Bear Creek out of Ouray, the trail is beautiful, but crazy in that it’s really narrow and one side is a wall of rock, the other side is a sheer drop-off to a canyon with a river on the bottom. If you slip, or make a mistake, there’s a lot of risk involved. Some of those descents are like that, too.

And on snow years [when much of the course is covered in snow], it’s way more sketchy. You’re traversing snow fields in the middle of the night.

Were there any issues with mountain weather?

There was a full-on downpour of rain for a couple hours. Then it started hailing, and it hurt so bad on my head that I took my arm warmers out and put them on my head, tucking them into my visor for a little protection.

What did you eat over the 30 hours?

Coke and potato chips, Roctane. Honey Stinger Chews for the electrolytes. PB&J. I tried to eat bars, but they wouldn’t really go down.

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The aid stations are at the low points on the course; I’d try to eat when I saw my crew there. As it got colder, I ate Ramen soup that my crew made. I’d take in more calories when I’d stand and eat, then I’d walk out of the aid station and let that digest. Once you get higher in elevation, eating real foods goes out the window, so I’d just try to maintain with GUs, gels, and chews.

What do you eat before the race starts? And after?

I eat instant oatmeal and a banana before, and right after, I drink an Ultragen from First Endurance for recovery. My appetite after the race was not great, but I had a bean and cheese burrito and chips later in the day. That’s kind of what I crave the most.

And I get a cough, like, a ‘100-Mile cough,' after races from all the mouth breathing, but this one seemed more to do with the altitude. When I tried to lie down after the race, my chest got really tight and my lungs felt like they weren’t functioning properly. I had this overwhelming panic, since I couldn’t breathe. I went back to the finish line and got oxygen and albuterol in the medical tent. I probably had mild pulmonary edema, but it’s been getting better ever since.

How much time do you take to recover from something like this?

I’ll take some time off; I don’t know how many days of doing basically nothing. I need to catch up on sleep, so I’ll focus on that. I haven’t slept great the last two nights because of the cough. I’m pretty in tune with my body and I feel like my heart is beating fast, like it won’t slow down. So I don’t do want to do any sort of exertion. I’ll rest, get some body work done when my muscles aren’t really sore. I’ll focus on getting nutrition in, and roll out my legs on a foam roller.

Are you sore now?

There are some spots that are sore, but I’m pretty okay. There’s so much hiking involved at Hardrock that I end up not being super sore.

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